Walk away method versus reverberation time method in determining the room constant

The room constant is a quantity relating to the sound absorption in an enclosure. It is necessary to room acoustics engineering calculations based on the perfectly diffuse sound field theory, both in noise control work and sound system design. Normally, in the validation of the above-mentioned theory, in situ evaluations of the room constant are performed on the basis of reverberation time measurements in the relevant space. Such methods fail to give accurate results when uncertainties regarding the volumes and areas effectively involved in the reverberation process arise. In this case the walk away method is more advantageous in that it only needs steady state sound pressure level measurements at various distances from a small sound source whose directivity factor is known.In this paper both methods are discussed and experimental results relative to four different rooms are compared.